Kyle of Localsh

Kyle of Localsh is a small village in the north west of Scotland at the entrance to Loch Alsh. It is the mainland connecting point of the Skye Bridge and has a harbour and marina for visitors and local fisherman. In company with a good friend we travelled by train from Inverness which takes a little over 2 1/2 hours each way. The route is very scenic although we were not blessed with great weather and as it was a bit inclement when we arrived we contented ourselves with lunch at the Kyle Hotel before taking a walk to the view point that overlooks Skye Bridge and the loch before taking a very wet walk back to our waiting train.                                            

Royal Yacht Britannia

HMY Britannia was launched in 1953 and entered service the following year and went on to travel more than 1m nautical miles. Forty years after entering service it was announced that, due to rising costs, Britannia would not receive the major refit required to remain in service, which would in any event only have secured a further five years. After a final foreign voyage to Hong Kong in July 1997 Britannia was de-commissioned in December of that year.

Following her withdrawal from service Britannia has been put on display at the Ocean Terminal, Leith, and is now a museum ship and a time capsule of how she was when Queen Elizabeth II and numerous other dignitaries enjoyed all that she had to offer.

We visited last month, assisted by a self-guided audio tour and here is what we saw. 

                                                                                       

Black Prince

The last time that I saw Black Prince was over 40 years ago at the East Somerset Railway. The engine was based there until 1998 after being purchased from British Railways by the artist David Shepherd. It was he that gave the loco the name 'Black Prince'.

Black Prince is a Class 9F 2-10-0 loco built for heavy freight traffic in 1959 making it one of the last steam locos built. It worked for just 9 years before being withdrawn from service in 1967. After 1998 the loco moved around a little before entering service with the North Norfolk Railway in 2014 following an overhaul and they purchased it the following year. 

The 10 year boiler certificate issued on the last overhaul expired in 2024 and, at that time, it was agreed to move Black Prince to Bressingham for a two year loan period and the move was made in April of that year. The plan is to return Black Prince to NNR when workshop space is available and as the deadline has already passed I guess the loan period is flexible.

                     

Bressingham Steam

It is a good many years since I had been to Bressingham Steam Museum. Although we visit Norfolk fairly often it tends to be out of season when the museum is closed so finding ourself that way in summer was an opportunity not to miss and we popped along last week. The museum was started by the horticulturist Alan Bloom in the mid 1960s and there are gardens on site as well. The museum has continued to grow and the main feature is three narrow gauge railways. One is the original 'Garden' railway that inspired the other two bigger and longer railways which you can ride as often as you wish during a visit. We were lucky that one was running steam on our visit.

In addition there are a number of traction engines and full size steam engines, models, memorabilia, artefacts and supporting displays together with a nice little cafe which we made the most of. Certainly worth a visit.